Surrounded by People, but all Alone
by Starkidtheatregeek
Summary: Lilah is just your average Hogwarts student, except for the fact that she's friends with the Potter/Weasley clan, and she's the first person ever in her family to be sorted into Gryffindor. Rated T for language.


**A/N: Hey guys, this is my first Potter fic, and I would really appreciate it if you would stick around, even though you've probably read millions of them. I have an OC main character, but most of the other characters are actual characters that the Queen wrote. This is set during and after 19 Years Later.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own most of the things in this story, our Queen does. I do own the main character, Lilah, and the story. **

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_Song of the Chapter_

_"From Heads Unworthy"_

_by Rise Against_

_"We are the children you reject and disregard_

_These aching cries come from the bottom of our hearts_

_You can't disown us now, we're your own flesh and blood_

_And we won't disappear just because your eyes are shut"_

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I ran through the rain to the cover of the train station, trying not to be seen. It was hard not to attract a lot of attention, though, with my trunk, and especially the owl I had with me. Without a glance behind me, I ran through the barrier between 9 and 10 and promptly ran into a big family.

The man I ran into turned around, and I gasped. Not only were his eyes shockingly green, but he had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead, it was Harry Potter. Now I knew his son, James, he was in my year as well as my house, but I never dreamed I would get to meet the man himself.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you go through the barrier! It was an-"

He cut me off, "It's fine, really," there was an amused glint in his eyes.

A red-headed woman appeared over his shoulder, "What's taking you so long?"

"This young lady just ran into us," he shrugged, "We were about to come. Nice to meet you!" and with that, he and who must have been Ginny and Albus walked away.

I ran to find James, I had so much to tell him. As I boarded the train, I yet again ran into someone. And, yet again, it was someone from the Potter family, "James!" I gasped, "Sorry!" then I laughed, realizing I had said that a lot today.

"What's the matter?" he asked, obviously concerned for my sanity.

"Nothing, it's just I just ran into your dad and said almost the exact same thing!"

"You figuratively ran into him, or actually ran into him?"

"Actually."

"How are you still alive?" he asked, gob-smacked.

"I got lucky? I dunno!" I started dragging my trunk down the hall-away from the Prefects' Carriage.

James let out an over-dramatic sigh, walked over, and helped me drag my trunk down the hall. We stopped in front of our compartment and a couple more people jumped up to help us put the trunk in the overhead compartment.

"Thanks, Dominique," I panted.

"No prob, Lilah!" she said cheerily.

A voice wafted through the open window, "Where's James?"

James grimaced, "My sister."

"Aww! Isn't that cute! James' baby sister wants to see him!" a snide voice called through the door.

"Who invited you, Parkinson? Last time I checked, you didn't talk to us after we turned you and your boyfriend into slugs," James said defensively.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Not anymore, he's not," Dominique snickered.

"You lot don't deserve to be here!" she stormed off.

There was a moments silence, "Well, speaking of my sister, I should probably go tell my family bye before we leave. I also gotta tell Al that he won't be in Slytherin, I was just kidding," James broke the silence as if nothing had happened.

"He's coming to Hogwarts this year?"

"Unfortunately, he's gonna try to tag along on everything we do now. I should go, I'll be back soon!" he swung out of the compartment.

I sat down on the seat when suddenly Victoire flounced in, positively bubbling with joy, "Lilah!" she gasped, "You're soaking! And you're getting the seat wet! Stand up, I'll dry you up!"

I did what she instructed, and grumbled, "What's go you in such a good mood?"

"Nothing much, just having a good day!" she practically sang.

"Right, because a good day warrants this good of a mood," Dominique said skeptically.

Victoire flicked her wand, and sat down with a flourish, "Well, if you must know," she paused and took a deep breath, "Teddy and I have been dating all summer!  
We both squealed in delight, we had both been waiting for this for years, "Wait, but Dom, how come you didn't know? You're her sister," the thought came out of my mouth randomly.

"Yeah, how come I didn't know?" she repeated, crossing her arms.

Victoire squirmed under our gaze, and started to stutter out an excuse when James burst into our compartment again, dragging Fred and Louis with him. He saw Victoire and stopped, mouth open, "You were kissing Teddy."

Fred stood up straight, he had self-appointed himself to take over the "Big Brother" role, even though he was her cousin and a year younger than her.

"How many people have you told?" she asked calmly, which surprised me, I would be spitting mad.

"My family," he mumbled, catching my eye, he added, "And Lilah."

"You told the entire family?" she shrieked.

"By extension."

"So you told Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were there too?" he nodded mutely, she barged on, "You realize that I am now dead, right?" again, he nodded. "And you know why? Because Uncle Ron or somebody will tell my mom or dad, if it's my mom, she'll tell my dad, and then my dad will flip out! He will march in front of the train, stop it, and take me out of school and ground me for the rest of my life! And Fred, I don't want any of the protective bullshit you pull! I have plenty to deal with without an interrogation!"

I kept my laughter to myself, the look on James' face was priceless.

"Sorry, I didn't think," he whimpered.

"You should be," she replied vehemently.

"I'm gonna be in the compartment next door," he said meekly and hurried out.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Dominique, Roxanne(who had walked in just before the episode) and I burst out laughing, "He looked like he was going to piss himself!" Roxanne screamed.

"Have you ever yelled like that before?" I asked, drying my eyes after a couple minutes of laughing.

Victoire looked a little sheepish, "No," she looked like she was about to cry, probably feeling guilty for it already.

Roxanne put a comforting arm around her shoulders, "Don't feel bad, James is a twit and deserves to be yelled at occasionally," she said.

I stood up, "I'm gonna go make sure James is ok, and Fred isn't being a prat," Dominique nodded. Quietly, I slid open the door. I walked in front of the next door, and noticed James wasn't there, Louis noticed me standing there and pointed towards the back of the train. Following his finer, I nearly screamed when the train lurched into movement and I fell.

The sight that greeted me was worse-someone had James pinned up on the wall, before I had time to think, I whipped out my wand. They only realized I was there when the attacker was on the floor, "Who on Earth is that?" I yelled.

"Some Slytherin who was trying to scare me off of the Quidditch team."

"That's ridiculous! Why?"

"Because he's in his seventh year and has lost to Gryffindor all six years and he wants to win."

"He does realize that you've only been playing for two years, right? He should also realize that threatening will get him nowhere! We're gonna kick their asses like we do every year!" I said passionately.

He laughed, "Let's go back to the compartment, you can come to mine if you want."

I sighed, "Sure." I didn't really have a set place in this family, they wreen't really mine. My family was abusive, but just to me, I was the "runt," even though I was the oldest. Whenever the family went somewhere, in the magical community, I was either left behind, or if I was allowed to come, my brother was introduced as a "genius;" I was never introduced unless asked after.

James slung his arm around my shoulder, and I winced, my mum had hit me this morning. He saw me wince and asked, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, I had to put on a brave face; he knew I was abused, but he was oblivious to the extent.

"Ooh! Look at that! Potter and Lilah sittin' in a treed, K.I.S.S.I.N.G! First come muder-"

I didn't let the kid get any further, "Shove off!"

"Whatcha gonna do about it, Lilah, let your boyfriend handle this like the rest of your family would?"

I whipped out my want and poked it in the middle of the offenders' chest, "James is not my boyfriend!" I said hotly, "So you can get your slimy little face out of my business, and lay off!" I pushed him further down the hallway as I said that. He looked absolutely terrified and ran off the second I was done.

"You do realize that you just scared the shit out of a fifth year, right?" James asked, slightly in awe.

"Serves him right," I growled.

"You really think that badly about me?" he asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

I realized how bad that sounded and rushed to cover, "No, that's not what I was mad about! What I was really mad about was him reminding me who I am!" it was true, I spent the entire school year running away from who I was, and by extension, my mum. There was a reason that no one used my last name, and that fifth year was definitely an example.

You would think my dad would be the one to abuse me after all he's been through, but it was my mum who was the culprit, I don't think my dad knew about it. She had hit me this morning when I asked if I could go to the station with them. Normally, I never would have asked, but they were taking my little brother this year.

"She hit you this morning, didn't she?" James asked quietly, shaking me out of my reverie.

I nodded, I couldn't really lie to him, he was my best friend.

He noticed the tears welling up in my eyes, "Hey, it's alright, you don't have to see her until next year!"

"Christmas," I choked out, the tears beginning to escape.

"You can come home with me; Dad said he used to do that with Uncle Ron! Aunt Hermione went with them too," he added the last bit, seeing my confused reaction.

I nodded, "Thanks, I'll have to owl my dad." I was still crying and getting quite a few stares, I generally wasn't one to break down in public.

James opened the compartments' door, and I sat down. Louis and Fred looked at me curiously; I ignored them and stretched my legs across the seat. My shirt fell off my shoulder, and all the boys gasped.

There was dried blood over a brilliant purple bruise, I attempted to pull my shirt back up, but the damage was done, James yanked it down again.

"Lilah!" James let out a strangled yelp, "I had no idea it was that bad!"

Fred rounded on James, his protective side coming out, "You knew she was being abused and didn't tell us?"

"Like I said, I had no idea how bad it was!"

"Who did that?" Louis asked, aghast.

"My mum," I whimpered, tears threatening again, I had managed to keep this hidden for two years previous to this, how did one mistake do this?

"All summer?" James asked, I nodded. He asked another question, "Every summer?" another nod, he sat back and exhaled loudly.

The door slid open, and I realized my shoulder was still exposed, again, I scrambled to pull it up again, when I heard a gasp, "Lilah Malfoy, you will leave that shirt down if you know what's good for you!"

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**Dun dun dun! **

**I'll update soon, I already have the next chapter written, as well as most of the third chapter.**


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